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Earthquakes, Nuclear Meltdowns & Chemical Spills

November 20, 2015

Nov. 20th – Experts analyzed responses to the Bhopal disaster, Sichuan earthquake, Fukushima, and Katrina.

Earthquakes, Nuclear Meltdowns, and Chemical Spills: Legal Responses to Disasters in the US and Asia

Hosted by the Center for Asian Law, this groundbreaking inaugural conference bridged the worlds of scholarship and policy by bringing together legal academics, activists, policymakers, and lawyers to discuss the Bhopal toxic chemical disaster, the Sichuan earthquake, and the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.

The event featured a keynote speech by Kenneth R. Feinberg, who addressed the topic of Unconventional Responses to Unique Catastrophes: Tailoring the Law to Meet the Challenges. The preeminent mediator in the United States, Mr. Feinberg has acted as Administrator of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, Administrator of the Hokey Spirit Memorial Fund (following the killings of 32 students and faculty on the Virginia Tech Campus in 2007), Special Master in the Federal Agent Orange Product Liability litigation, and has resolved dozens of additional high-profile disputes. Mr. Feinberg has also taught Mass Torts, Evidence, and Criminal Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Columbia Law School, New York University School of Law, Harvard Law School, Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Virginia Law School. He is the author of What is Life Worth? and Who Gets What.

Panelists included the former Additional Solicitor General of India, the Attorney General of New Jersey, the Chairman of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, a senior scholar who advises the government of China on disaster policy, and an attorney who represented a large group of victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The November 20, 2015 conference was co-sponsored by Perry World House.